Map-case.



No. 807,605. PATENTED DEC. 19, 1905. E. G. DANN.

MAP CASE.

APPLICATION FILED 113.45, 190s.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ERNEST G. DANN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO ERNEST W'. A. ROVVLES, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

MAP-CASE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec, 19, 1905.

Application filed February 6, 1905. Serial No. 244,434.

T0 all whom, it nuty concern:

Be it known that I, ERNEST Cr. DANN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Map-Cases, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in that class of map-cases in which a spring-actuated roller of the Hartshorn type is mounted within the case. the roller carrying a map.

The object of my invention is to provide a case of this character which shall be simple, light, inexpensive, readily portable, durable, may be readily hung upon a wall, and may be readily assembled with other similar cases for the purpose of compactly and conveniently housing a number of maps. These and such other objects as may hereinafter appear are attained by my invention, which is more particularly set forth in the accompanying claims.

One convenient embodiment of my invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of a plurality of my improved cases secured together and hung upona wall. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section through one of my cases in its preferred form. Fig. 3 is a sectional view on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2 looking in the direction indicated by the arrows. Fig. at is a detailed sectional view of modified form of my invention, and Fig. 5-is a detail showing a preferred device for securing the map to the roller.

Like letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several figures of the drawings.

Referring by letter to the accompanying drawings, A is a casing, preferably in the form of a cylinder, provided with a longitudinal slot B. As usually constructed this cylinder consists of a sheet of metal bent to cylindrical form and engaging at each end a spreader,

preferably in the form of a disk C, of such dimensions that the long sides of the sheet of metal constituting the cylinder will be held apart from each other, the space therebetween constituting the slot B. The cylinder A is So, also,

for the most effective assembling of the parts of my map-case I prefer to provide the cylinder A atits ends with annular grooves a, adapt- .ed to receive the spreading-disks or supporting-pieces C with lugs c, which may convenlently project through the slot B or through openings in the cylinder especially provided for them. These lugs c serve as an additional means for preventing the rotation of the disks C within the cylinder A, for at least one of these disksthe one engaging the spring end of the roller E-must be stationary. The roller E is of the familiar Hartshorn type and is mounted upon the disks C. The map is secured to the roller E in any convenient manner, but may be readily secured in the manner shown in Fig. 5, where the clip F, in the form of a tight-fitting cylindrical cap provided with a slit f, is fitted over the roller E after the map has been rolled once around the roller E, the clip F thereby securely clamping the map to the roller E, the unrolled portion of the map projecting through the slit f. As thus constructed it will be seen that I have a complete map-case, all the parts of which except the roller, which is a stock article, may be stamped out of sheet metal and may be cheaply assembled.

In the use of these map-cases it is usual to mount one map in each case and to provide some means for securing these cases adjacent to each other, so that a number of maps may be hung in the same location and may be referred to independently. For this purpose I provide the ends of the caps D with horizontal slots. d, and I hang adjacent cases together by means of spring-clips Gr. These clips are wide and fit snugly within the slots cl, so as to prevent rotative movement of the mapcases. The clips are also provided with inwardly-projecting spring-arms, so that when two or more cases are secured to each other, as shown in Fig. 1, these spring-arms will snugly clamp adjacent cases to each other.

At the same time a pair of these clips may be conveniently used as a means for suspending for quickly attachingamap or curtain or the like to a roller, but I am enabled thereby to make a more compact and durable map-case. When a roller of this sort is used in a mapcase, it is desirable to have the roller as small as is consistent with satisfactory service. It is well understood in this art that the rolleris hollowed out for the greater part of its length to contain the spring, which is wound up by unrolling'the map, so that the roller must, to begin with, be of sufficient diameter to contain the smallest spring which will be effective for good service. If now a wooden roller be used, it must be of sufficiently greater diameter than the spring to give sufficientstrength to the wooden roller for the service required, to furnish a sufficient thickness of wood to hold the attaching devices which are commonly used for securing the map to the roller, and where tacks are used it must be of such thickness that the tacks will not project into the spring-space, so as to interfere with the proper action of the spring.

desirable because of its small bulk and greater strength, of course the map cannot be attached to the roller by tacks or the like, and so commonly a longitudinal groove is formed in the roller to receive one edge of the map, curtain, or the like. Consequently the depth of this groove will be added to the diameter of the spring in determining the smallest roller which may be effectively used. With my device, however, I am enabled to use a metallic roller Which shall exceed in diameter the diameter of the spring only by the thickness of the metal of the roller itself, and therefore I am enabled to use a small metal roller, which has the advantages of being compact and strong.

In Fig. 5 I have shown a modified form of my invention in which instead of using separate spreading-disks O, I provide the caps D with integral spreading-disks 0.

While I have shown the preferred embodiment of my invention, I do not limit myself to such embodiment; but

I claim 1. In a device of the class described, the combination with a casing, of a pair of disks mounted therein, and a separable cap mounted upon each end of said casing and arranged to clamp said disks in position.

2. In a device of the class described, the combination with a casing provided with a longitudinal slot, of supporting-pieces mounted within grooves in said casing and adjacent to the opposite ends thereof, one of said pieces projecting into said slot so as to prevent the If, on the other hand,' a metallic roller be used, such a roller being rotation thereof within said casing, and a spring-roller mounted between said supporting-pieces.

3. In a device of the class described, the combination with a sheet of metal bent to form a casing, of means for spreading the opposite edges of said sheet of metal apart, so as to form a longitudinal slot, said casing having means for securing said spreading means in position within said casing said means comprising grooves in said casing, within which said spreading means are seated, and means for clamping the same within said grooves.

4. In a device of the class described, the combination with a sheet of metal bent to form a casing, of a pair of spreaders mounted within grooves in said casing so as to hold the opposite edges thereof apart to form a longitudinal slot, and means for clamping said sheet of metal around said spreaders.

5. The combination with a suitable support, of a casing mounted thereon, a spring-roller mounted therein, a second casing supported by the first casing, aspring-roller mounted in said second casing, and means arranged to seon re said casings in rigid relation to each other.

6. In a device of the class described, the combination with a sheet of metal bent to form a casing, of a pair of metallic disks mounted within the casing so formed and arranged to hold the opposite edges of said sheet of metal apart so as to form a longitudinal slot, caps re.- movabl y attached to opposite ends of said casing so as to clamp said disks in position, means for preventing the rotation of one of said disks within said casing, a spring-roller mounted upon and between said disks, and a map or the like mounted upon said roller and extending through the slot in said casing.

7. In a device of the class described, the combination with a pair of cases, of springclips arranged at both ends of each of said cases, each of said clips engaging both of said cases so as to clamp said cases together, substantially as described.

8. In a device of the class described, the combination with a pair of cases arranged side by side, of a wide and thin clip provided with spring-arms, one of said spring-arms engaging a transverse slot in theend of one of said cases, the other of said spring-arms engaging a similar slot in the end of the other of said cases, and a like spring-clip similarly engaging the opposite ends of said cases, substantially as described.

ERNEST G. DANN.

Witnesses:-

O. R. BARNETT, F. H. DRURY.

ICC 

